1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lever-type connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,442 discloses a lever-type connector that has a housing configured for fitting to a mating connector and a lever supported rotatably on the housing. The lever has an operation part and arms that project from opposite ends of the operation part. Thus the lever is U-shaped and is mounted to straddle the housing. Each arm has a cam groove for engaging a cam pin on the mating connector. The lever is rotated while the cam pin engages the cam groove to produce a cam action for moving the connector and the mating connector towards one another.
The arm of the lever has a lever-locking part for holding the lever in a rotation-prevented state when the lever has finished a rotation. The lever-locking part has an elastic piece with a fixed end and a free end that is elastically deformable around the fixed end. A lock is formed on the elastic piece and can be locked to a receiving portion on the housing by flexing the elastic piece. A release portion is disposed at the free-end and can be pressed to unlock the lock from the receiving portion.
The components of the lever-locking part are arranged in a row from the fixed end to the release portion in the rotational direction of the lever. Thus, the lever-locking part is large. The distance from the fixed end to the lock can be shortened to make the entire lever-locking part compact. However, it then is impossible for the lock to obtain a necessary flexure for locking the lock to the lever-locking part-receiving portion. Further it is difficult for an operator to put fingers on the release portion.
The invention has been completed in view of the above-described situation. Therefore it is an object of the invention to provide a lever-type connector with a compact lever-locking part that can be operated smoothly.